Archives for July 2019

Attorney General Aaron Ford, who is defending Sisolak and the state’s legal brothels in a federal lawsuit filed by former sex workers, is simultaneously prosecuting cases of sexual trafficking initiated by his predecessor, Adam Laxalt. . . . Ford draws a distinction between prostitution and sex trafficking in his motion to dismiss the federal suit against the state.

“There is no conflict between federal law and Nevada law here because federal law does not criminalize prostitution and both Nevada law and federal law criminalize sex trafficking wherever it occurs in Nevada,” Ford wrote in his motion.

Chuck Muth, government relations counsel for the Nevada Brothel Association, bristles at the conflation of legal sex work and the illegal trade.

“Are you saying the presence of legal brothels in rural towns like Elko and Ely is fueling demand for commercial sex services in Las Vegas and Reno?” asks Muth. “You can’t blame that on the legal brothels. They’re not allowed to advertise. The advertising ban is in state law.”

(Hurubie Meko | Lancaster Online) – The Rotary Club of Lancaster got some business advice Wednesday from a legal sex worker in Nevada.

Alice Little, who said she earned over $1 million last year working at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, talked to the Rotarians about risk management and fee setting.

It’s not that the Rotarians are looking to support legal sex work in Lancaster County.

Tom Gemmill, the club’s program chair, invited Little to speak after hearing her in a podcast about new books and economics, he said.

The book being discussed was called “An Economist Walks into a Brothel and Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk” by Allison Schrager.

“Now, who isn’t going to listen to that podcast,” Gemmill said. “It was really fascinating.”

Gemmill said he asked Little to speak about how she mitigates risk in legal sex work versus the risks that exist in illegal sex work. He also asked her to talk about fee structures.

About 100 people gathered at the Farm and Home Center in Lancaster to hear Little speak via a YouTube chat.

Last year, Little said she made about $1.2 million dollars from bookings at the brothel. And after splitting 50% of her earnings with Moonlite Bunny Ranch — the industry standard — her income still qualified her as the highest earning legal sex worker in the country, she said.

Nevada law allows the exchange of sexual services for money, but only through “a licensed house of prostitution.”

Working in her industry has taught her how to assess potential risks and appropriately mitigate those risks as her celebrity status has changed, she said.

Often, people overcomplicate what risks exist in achieving their business goals, Little said. She said it is a better practice to focus on existing issues, rather than speculating on future difficulties.

“In order to make a proper risk management plan, you have to first zero in on what risks you are specifically managing and cross off the list anything that isn’t a potential threat at that time,” she said.

As an example, Little talked about physical threats against her last year.

Last summer, when a ballot advisory question threatened to overturn the legalization of prostitution and ban brothels in Lyon County, Little joined an opposition movement and advocated against the measure.

Her political involvement raised her risk profile, she said.

“During that time last summer, I received no less than three different death threats,” she said.

To mitigate her increased risk, Little said she started taking different routes home, carrying pepper spray and overall becoming more cautious.

Once the ballot advisory was defeated, her risk of immediate danger dissipated and she no longer needed to take those measures, she said.

Gemmill said many attendees gave him positive feedback after the event.

The speaker event is held weekly. The next three meetings will feature Barbara Altmann, Franklin & Marshall College president, Don Brown, scholar in residence at Widener University, and Russell Redding, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture secretary.

Two men leaving the Farm and Home Center on Wednesday said they found Little’s speech very informative and interesting.

And from what Little described about her work, they thought that legalized prostitution seems to have more protections for the women who work in it.

When asked if they would support a measure of legalization in Lancaster County, they both answered “No.”

(Chuck Muth) – There are reasons for commercial sex workers to be in an extra celebratory mood this Independence Day.

In politics they call it “Big Mo’” – when momentum swings from one campaign to another. And in the War on Sex, the momentum has decidedly shifted in the direction of commercial sex workers.

As Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and author of the Declaration of Independence we celebrate today, wrote…

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

Similarly, the religious beliefs of some that fee-for-sex between consenting adults is immoral does not make it injurious to anyone else; it doesn’t pick anyone’s pocket or break anyone’s leg. As such, government should butt out.

And there are signs this Independence Day that some elected officials are starting to agree.

In Queens, New York, a young, relatively unknown public defender running for district attorney shocked the political establishment by winning last week. Her platform included a pledge that the DA’s office would stop prosecuting commercial sex transactions between consenting adults.

Of course, until state law is changed such relationships will remain officially illegal. However, a bill to change that has also been introduced in the New York Legislature. And while the bill’s prospects are a longshot, it’s still a step in the right direction.

In addition, a similar effort to end the criminalization of prostitution has also been introduced in Washington, DC – where politicians and lobbyists have elevated “fee for service” to an art form in which only taxpayers get screwed.

In California last week the State Assembly passed a bill that, as Maxine Doogan of the ESPLER Project described, “prohibits the arrest for prostitution of people who witness or are a victim of specified and serious crimes, and prohibits the use of condoms as evidence of sex work.”

The bill now moves to the state Senate.

And on Tuesday Hawaii passed a bill that tosses prostitution convictions for “those who avoid additional convictions for three years, even if they can’t prove they have been victims of sex trafficking.”

A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

It’s also noteworthy that an effort to kill the only system of legal prostitution in the United States died last month.

A state senator introduced a bill to shut down Nevada’s legal rural brothels – which have been operating successfully and safely for almost 50 years. His effort failed when the Legislature adjourned without the bill even getting a committee hearing, let alone a vote.

Admittedly, these are incremental steps toward ending criminal penalties for commercial sex work. But Big Mo’ is clearly on the side of those who embrace Thomas Jefferson’s “live and let live” attitude.

And that’s something to celebrate on this Fourth of July.

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a limited-government grassroots advocacy organization, and government affairs counsel to the Nevada Brothel Association

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Suzette Cole, CEO, Moonlite Bunny Ranch

“Prostitution is the oldest profession and will not go away. Nevada has been doing it right since 1971 when we took it out of the criminal’s hands and put it into a highly-regulated industry. As an added benefit, there has never been a case of HIV/AIDS in the history of legal brothels here…and you can’t say that about any other profession in the United States.”

John Stossel, Syndicated Columnist

“We don’t have to cheer for prostitution, or think it’s nice, to keep government out of it and let participants make up their own minds. It’s wrong to ban sex workers’ options just to make ourselves feel better.”

Steve Chapman, Syndicated Columnist

“Prohibition doesn’t eliminate the harms generally associated with prostitution, such as violence, human trafficking and disease. On the contrary, it fosters them by driving the business underground.”

Christina Parreira, UNLV Researcher/Sex Worker

“Sex work is my CHOICE. I’d like to continue to have the opportunity to make that choice legally. We don’t need protection. We’re consenting, adult women.”

New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried

“Trying to stop sex work between consenting adults should not be the business of the criminal justice system.”

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker

“Yes, sex work should be decriminalized. As a general matter, I don’t believe that we should be criminalizing activity between consenting adults, and especially when doing so causes even more harm for those involved.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders

“I think the idea of legalizing prostitution is something that should be considered…(and) certainly needs to be discussed.”

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris

“When you’re talking about consenting adults, I think that, yes, we should really consider that we can’t criminalize consensual behavior, as long as no one is being harmed. … We should not be criminalizing women who are engaged in consensual opportunities for employment.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren

“I believe humans should have autonomy over their own bodies and they get to make their own decisions.”

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

“If a consenting adult wants to engage in sex work, that is their right, and it should not be a crime. All people should have autonomy over their bodies and their labor.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper

“Legalizing prostitution and regulating it, so there are norms and protections and we understand more clearly how people are being treated and make sure we prevent abuse, I think it should be really looked at.”

Mike Gravel, former Alaska Senator

“Sex workers are workers, and they deserve the dignity and respect that every worker deserves. For too long, we’ve denied them that. Sex workers, not politicians, should lead the way in crafting sex work policy.”

Prof. Ronald Weitzer, George Washington University:

“Unlike illegal street prostitution in many other places, Nevada’s legal brothels do not disturb public order, create nuisances, or negatively impact local communities in other ways. Instead, they provide needed tax revenue for cash-strapped rural towns.”

Prof. Barbara Brents, UNLV author, “State of Sex”:

“Teams of scholars…have concluded that Nevada’s legal brothels provide a far safer environment for sex workers than the criminalized system in the rest of the United States.”

Prof. Sarah Blithe, UNR author, “Sex and Stigma”:

“Discussions of legal prostitution are rife with misinformation. Academic work and popular press publications alike often conflate legal prostitution in the United States with illegal prostitution.”

Lee Herz Dixon:

“Do I think eradicating legal prostitution from all Nevada counties will erase the practice of the oldest profession in the state, or break the nexus of drugs, crime, and exploitation of the vulnerable? I do not.”

Journalist Michael Cernovich:

“It’s empirically proven that criminalizing sex work allows children to be sex trafficked more readily as they are afraid to turn to authorities and wonder if they will be arrested.”

Enrique Carmona:

“We need to put aside moralistic prejudices, whether based on religion or an idealistic form of feminism, and figure out what is in the best interests of the sex workers and public interest as well.”

Ruby Rae, professional courtesan

“In the brothels, we have the choice, always, to say which clients we will say yes and no to. We have staff that would never let a man hurt us, and we have a clientele that do not come here to hurt us.”

Kiki Lover, professional courtesan:

“We are human beings who chose to do sex work on our own free will. We get treated with respect and like family at the brothels. It’s a job just like any other job. We sell a service that all humans need.”

Paris Envy, professional courtesan:

“I’m not ‘exploited.’ I’m not ‘trafficked.’ I’m not ‘brainwashed.’ I don’t need to be ‘saved.’ I’ve freely chosen this line of work, which is a legal, private transaction between consenting adults.”

Alice Little, professional courtesan:

“It’s ILLEGAL sex work that exploits children. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that traffics. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that sees women exploited and abused by pimps.”

Jim Shedd, Nevadan

“Prostitution should be licensed, regulated, taxed like any other service industry. There are many single or widowed men and women who should be able to take advantage of such services provided by consenting adults for consenting adults. Let’s act to at least reduce illegal sex trafficking and other sex crimes by creating safe and legal outlets for paying adults who wish to use them.”

Paul Bourassa, brothel customer:

“Some people are just never given a chance in the dating scene, so brothels offer those of us with no experience a chance to learn what it’s like to be on a date.”

Lewis Dawkins, brothel customer:

“It’s not always about sex. Little compliments and encouragements offered by the ladies help build my self-confidence. It’s a business, yes. But the ladies care personally about their clients. That means a lot.”

Brett Caton, brothel customer:

“I think brothels provide an important function in society. Legal ones give a safe outlet to their customers and for some men it is the only way they get so much as a hug.”

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Mission

The Nevada Brothel Association PAC is a coalition of legal brothel owners, brothel workers, brothel clients and brothel supporters dedicated to defending a woman’s right to choose professional sex work as a career, protecting the public’s health and safety, and preserving Nevada’s rich live-and-let-live heritage.